The Legacy of the Precursor
by The Precursor
Summary: what can I say that won't spoil the story, Shades are being rebellious. Have fun. Also, this story has influences from almost every game or book I've ever seen, I just chose the two that seem to tie in with the overall major plotline.
1. Chapter 1

The Legacy of The Precursor

Part I: The Awakening

Ch 1

A Harbinger stood over the burning corpse of a Precursor, its claws bloody, burned and shattered. It stood in the middle of a destroyed colony tired, defeated, but mostly, angry.

It rose to a height of seven feet and uttered a low, primordial bellow of hatred. Then the creature charged on all fours, its neon yellow canine-like skull gleaming through the thin skin of its forehead. _That _must_ be where it's vulnerable _the Precursor thinks and with its last ounce of strength, it readies its combat knife and stabs it. The Precursor hears a splintering sound just as the Harbinger's body slams…

"Kurt!" the Shade schoolmaster practically shouts, slamming a ruler on his desk and arousing the "young" Shade named Kurt from its "slumber", "What is the weak point on a Harbinger?" he asks attempting to catch the student off-guard.

"Its thin-skinned forehead", the Shade replies almost instinctively. This did not have the desired effect that the schoolmaster expected because it then caused him to falter.

The schoolmaster stuttered, "Non-nonsense, the Harbingers have n-no weakness, they are completely m-machines. " He recovered, "Where on earth did that idea come from? Never mind, class dismissed."He hurried out looking as if he had seen a ghost, which in all actuality he had.

The Shades were created from The Precursor, as the church taught, they were without bodies or form but they were physical beings and each had a distinct personality supposedly crafted by The Precursor. To any other creature they would appear to be living shadows, luckily there were no other living creatures. Nuclear fire from the heavens had devastated this world called Thoros and had eradicated all life on this planet except those within the Haven which was constructed by The Precursor before the catastrophe, this Haven is where The Precursor created the Shades who were supposedly perfect beings.

"Thanks, I'm not sure how much longer we would have survived the lecture", said Grace, flashing him a smile then turning away, leaving the room.

"Yeah thanks", said Jimmy aka Sticky Fingers due to his tendency to wind up in possession of items that aren't his. "Here, I found this, I was thinking you might put it to better use than me seeing as you like to go exploring. Just don't lose it, okay?"

"Sure, no problem." replied Kurt, accepting the shard of crystallized light which was perhaps one of the most valuable things on this planet, seeing as the sun was frozen. He was looking for one of these to test his machine on, it would duplicate the molecules in the crystal into another finally ending the light problem. He packed up and then started walking to the run down, two- story shanty that was his home.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

As he prepared to open the door he was intercepted by his sister Meredith who told him to be careful, their parents were arguing again.

"How do you know?"

"The windows aren't open; they only close them when they don't want the neighbors to hear them." Kurt's sister might annoy him, but he had to say that she was rather perceptive. He used his extensive set of skills to spring off of the dumpster outside his home and grabbed onto the ledge of the second story window. He proceeded to open the window using a lever he installed and pulled himself up into his room, followed quickly by his sister. He smirked, noticing that she had a good deal more trouble than he did.

Meredith opened his door and quickly traversed the hall to her room and quietly shut the door. Kurt then proceeded to test his machine. Last time it almost knocked a chunk of the wall out but was pretty sure it would work now. He fit the crystal into place and turned it on.

The very air itself seemed to vibrate, there was a great flash of light and then everything electronic went out, including the lights.

This is very bad for Shades because the Darkness of Thoros seemed to have a living, collective, _feral_ mind. It would seek to consume any Shades inside of it so everyone was required to stay in the light.

Screams and visions swam through Kurt's mind, he heard whispers of the future, whether it was his or not, he couldn't tell. Some spoke of greatness and others of destruction, while each was completely different, they were all _insane_. It could have been minutes or hours but in either situation, the lights suddenly flickered back to life and the Darkness vanished. Kurt slumped to the ground lucky to still be independent of the Darkness. He lay on the floor of his bedroom completely petrified with shock then his protective instincts took over and asked him _where's Meredith?_

"No!" He screamed as he broke down the door into his sister's room, but she was gone. The Darkness had taken her and anger filled Kurt. Not anger towards the Darkness, no, how could you feel anger towards a mindless beast with absolutely no control of its actions, no, he felt anger because it had taken her instead of him. She had been one of the few things keeping him sane these past couple years with his parents almost constant fighting and now she was gone.

He was truly no longer sane because he made a decision that no sane Shade would have and he set off in need of a little help from a friend. He grabbed his e-pack, did a double take, noticed that unbelievably the machine had worked so he took that too.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

_Plink. Plink, plink. _"Grace," Kurt whispered up to her window trying to get her attention by taping on the glass.

"Wha-," Grace appeared at the window wiping the sleep from her eyes, "Kurt?" She was instantly wide awake when she saw the fire in his eyes. "What do you need?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Then I trust you to know this, the Darkness took my sister and I'm going to go get her back because I saw its thoughts and I know that she is still alive, not assimilated like the church said they were. Will you help me find her?"

She grabbed her e-pack that Kurt had encouraged her to have ready and leapt nimbly out of the window like a professional acrobat and landed silently next to Kurt. No words were necessary because she knew what he was feeling, she had lost her father to the Darkness. They were about to start on their way to the undeveloped outskirts of the Haven when Jimmy practically materialized next to his two friends. "I overheard some crazy conspiracy theory and I just had to be a part of it." He said as he grinned revealing that he too was ready to embark on their journey.

Kurt and Grace smiled back happy that no man was being left behind.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

"Lady and gentleman, I present to you, my home away from home!" Said Kurt as the others cracked up with laughter. The place was a wreck, and old mine abandoned for lack of light crystals, its location wasn't even graced with the presence of a sign, it was just a hole in the ground however, it was a safe hole in the ground therefore, it was home. He never seemed to be able to search the entire mine because he just ran out of crystals, it was enormous on the inside but now, he could perfect his light machine and explore for days. He had the basic concept down, it grabbed dust particles in the air and condensed them into a crystal mass, he just needed someone to perfect the wiring. _Someone like Jimmy, _he thought, _I might have good ideas but those are useless if I can't get them out of the experimental stage._ He would have to remind himself to have Jimmy take a look at it later, he couldn't forget to remind him of the risks as well.

They set off to Kurt's makeshift workshop where they set up their own little cots next to his. Grace noticed some lights overhead and asked about them. Jimmy responded, "They seem to be motion activated judging by that sensor that is coming off of it. I don't know why they aren't working. Maybe they are like the old ones in the church that run off of a separate power supply and they just got cut off." He pondered his theory for a minute and added, "Yeah that must be it, hey Kurt. Any idea how old this place is?"

"No clue."

Grace joined in, "It must be almost as old as Haven itself." They all wondered about this possibility as Kurt remembered what he was going to ask Jimmy about earlier.

"Hey Jimmy can you help me figure out how to build this crystallizer, I have the basics but it doesn't seem to work right." Jimmy barely even glanced at it.

"You've got the wires on the wrong nodes, switch them." _Come on , I give you more credit than that. That's a stupid, _stupid _mistake._

"I do, don't I, thanks." replied Kurt, barely able to conceal his rage and embarrassment. _That's it!My sister is gone because I accidentally crossed some wires! _He couldn't admit that this is what had caused his sister's disappearance, even though he knew that they wouldn't think any less of him. _No, my sister is gone because of some gluttonous monster that stays in the dark, preying on the unaware._ The more he thought about his sudden turn of events, the more he started to think of the Darkness as a person, not an out-of-control entity. He disconnected and reconnected the wires and turned it on. "Alright guys, moment of truth."

This time, it immediately produced another light crystal, no rumbling no darkness. Grace couldn't help but suppress a grin, _so he does have the knack for it._ "Yeah! Alright boys, where we going first?"

"Let's go see if we can find that generator that Jimmy was theorizing about. Sound like a plan?"

"Yes, but which way?"

"Follow the lights." Said Jimmy, in his element. They searched for hours, constantly going down a slope. Finally, they saw it.

"A generator." Sighed Grace amazed. She couldn't get enough of all of this old technology, it was putting her into a kind of stupor. They all walked towards it in awe, it was huge! It practically reached the ceiling of the mine! Kurt wiped dust off of it, wondering what he could salvage or even if they could still use it. Grace flipped a switch, and all hell seemed to break loose.

There was a slow rumble coming from it as it began to spin, the mine seemed to shake. The noise was deafening and then came a calm monotone voice that drowned out everything else with its sheer volume.

"Loop sequence activating… Playing most recent journal entry… "_My mission has come to an end. I am so close to my goal, to ridding this world of all Harbingers but, alas, I must lay myself down to my final rest. I wish I could continue, but I can't. I can only hope that the shades I created here will follow in my footsteps. I do not wish to die here, in this mine of mine, I will travel back to my ship, where my comrades have fallen. There I may find peace, not here. Delta, take me home._"

"No, it can't be." Said Grace

"It is the voice of the Precursor!" exclaimed Jimmy.

"Initialized voice activated protocol, codeword: "take me home" teleporting…"

"Tele-what?" said Kurt barely audible over the roar of crackling electricity. They all held onto each other for dear life, and then they were gone.

The generator slowed its spin, stabilizing itself. It now powered all of the lights in the mine.


	5. Chapter 5

Part II: Memories

Ch 5

Their heads were spinning as they groggily pulled themselves away from the floor. "Look at what we found here…" muttered Grace. They found themselves in something that looked like it came straight from Grace's dreams. Everything had a chrome sheen to it and the walls were covered with monitors ranging from the size of a digit to the length of a building. There were florescent lights running all across the top of the room and a large pedestal was placed in the center of the room.

"Hello" said the voice from earlier. It seemed less life threatening now that it was softer. "You all seem pretty shaken up and I apologize but I needed to use his vocal recording to transport you all here. I do require vocal recognition to operate. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused but I need your assistance. My name is Delta and it is going to be a pleasure working with you."

"What the hell!" shouted Kurt, clearly aggravated, "Do you just teleport anyone you want to, or-"

"Silence you fool! I thought that I would try being polite as my master had requested but clearly you are too barbaric to appreciate this! Perhaps I was wrong about you three and I should just dispose of you right now-"

"Wait!" Exclaimed Grace, as a hologram appeared above the pedestal which caused her to falter momentarily in awe of such technology, the hologram showed a vague shape of a Shade but it was far too small to actually be one, "Please forgive my friend's temper, it can get the best of him in certain situations."

"Yeah," agreed Jimmy, placing a hand on Kurt's shoulder, winking at him, he continued, "He can be a little- how would you say it- impulsive at times." He finished with a grin.

Delta seemed to accept this as he continued, "As I was trying to say earlier, my master is the reason you are here now, despite his last journal entry, he is still alive. You may have heard of him, seeing as he created you all after all."

"The Precursor?" asked Kurt in wonder, calmer now.

"Yes, I suppose you could call him that. I would go into detail on how this came to be and how we ended up on this God-forsaken planet but… I'm sure that he could explain the story better than I will ever be able to. Playing journal entries 1-5…"


	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6

"Playing entry 1."

"Aghh, no- Honey look, I'm using it! See?"

"Whatever you say Charles, I'm starting on supper, just don't let it go to waste."

"My wife… Well as my first entry I guess I guess I had better provide some background. My wife Gamina here just bought me a high end audio journal that I'm probably never going to use again… O well.

"I heard that!"

"Wait no, I said umm…" The sound of footsteps can be heard from the audio log.

"Playing entry 2."

"Wow, I just got a sudden inspiration from the news today. According to this, they've found some kind of anomaly in space that has the physical appearance of a bolt of lightning but when they launched a probe at it, the probe got sucked into it like a black hole."

"I think it just looks like a tear in one of my dresses."

"That's it! It's a tear in the very fabric of space itself! Hehe too many sci-fi movies, but still, this is real!"

"Whatever you say Mr. Doctorate in Einstienian Physics. I think it's just another one of those things that fade out from memory in a few weeks."

"I wonder if they'll let us at the University study it? Hey, what's that on TV, turn up the volume."

"-debris has just been ejected from this tear and according to the researchers it is the remains of the probe launched earlier today! How it could have come back through this rift so fast baffles the scientists. Further study seems to be required."

"Excuse me Gamina, I need to make some calls-"

"Playing entry 3."

"According to the researchers at the college, the video taken from the probe shows a planet with structures on it! Think of the possibilities, extraterrestrial life!"

"Don't get to excited grandpa, could have just killed themselves off."

"Ignore Jace Charles, he just likes to joke around a lot. You don't look too old yet."

"Thank you young lady, and you are?"

"Brittaney, glad I could help."

"Well, a volunteer effort from the college called the precursors is to attempt to go through the rift in one piece, and hopefully not end up like the probe. We still don't know what happened to it."

"Don't forget the intensive military training they're putting us through in preparation for first contact."

"What? Jace, why would they do that? We're going to try and establish relations, not kill them off."

"The official memo was 'just in case'. Don't worry grandpa, I'm sure they'll make some special lower requirements for you seeing as you're the senior leader."

"Haha, very funny, well, I guess I'll have some new stories and appearance to show off to Gamina when I get back home."

"Playing entry 4."

"This is it! We're finally headed to the rift! I'm on a shuttle now on an intercept course with the rift." Then there are audible screams of terror in the background.

"Oh my God! Charles, what is that?"

"It looks like a damned meteor, but enormous!"

"Looks like it barely scraped by us, dear God, It's headed for the planet!"

"NO! GAMINA!" A large explosion is heard that rings in the speakers for an instant.

"There's nothing left…"

"Whatever is on the other side of that portal is going to pay for it." A pause

"We're through the portal, attempting to land on the 'civilized' planet. You may wish to do some sightseeing while I line up a landing" This was the calm detached voice that could only belong to the pilot.

"Look at that, the sun's frozen, how can there even be life?"

"Maybe the portal took us to a different dimension where the laws of reality are different."

"That must be it, look at that, the entire planet is dark, how can the inhabit=ants even see what they're doing?"

"No look over there, see those little dots, I bet those are small lights."

"Brace for landing."

"Alright men, grab your rifles, we've already done some recon on this planet and we've discovered that light is solid here. So your rifles now fire solid light which can be generated by this ship."

"But, why do we need rifles sergeant?"

"Well Charles, they just blew up our home planet so I'm going to assume that they're hostile until proven otherwise. So go out there, watch your backs, and get me some damn intel on this God forsaken rock."

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Horah!" The pounding sound of boots on metal is heard.

"Brittaney, look at this, all the buildings are abandoned."

"Charles, what the hell happened here?"

"I don't know Jace, I don't know."

"Playing entry 5."

"We've found these creatures and dubbed them Harbingers for their appearance. They truly do strike fear into us of the precursors. We haven't been able to kill any without large explosives yet. Every time we found them we have been forced to retreat. Now our sergeant is planning a final strike strategy with all of the nukes that we've brought. He's nuking the entire planet except us but the radiation will get to us, he says that the levels will be survivable but I disagree-"

"Were being attacked! Quick, launch the nukes now!"

"No! We still have troops out there! You can't do that!"

"Charles, it's either them or us, and I don't think that those green volunteers can last very long after we're gone."

"No! I'm going to get them, I need time!"

"Fine Charles, you have three minutes, hurry your ass back here."

" Thank you sergeant, Jace, Brittaney, where are you?"

_Indistinct, _"Launch the nukes now."

"Yes sir."


End file.
